Shoppers have snapped up all the Nexus 7 tablets stocked by Currys and PC World, while Google appears to have sold out of the higher-capacity version of its tablet on its UK and US sites.

Dixons Retail Group, which operates the British high street shops, told ZDNet on Monday it no longer has any of the Google devices on offer. The 16GB model is the only version of the tablet stocked by bricks-and-mortar retailers.

"We can confirm that Currys and PC World had have sold out of the Google Nexus tablet just this morning," a Dixons spokeswoman said. "The retailer is already on the case with further shipments to meet demand."

At the same time, Google appears short on tablets to sell. The company has recently returned to direct hardware sales, listing its latest Nexus devices on its Google Play store. As of the weekend, the 16GB version of the Nexus 7 — which launched last week — was no longer available in the store.

"16GB coming soon — leave email for notification," a message reads on the page. The 8GB version is still in stock on the Google Play store.

The Nexus 7 does not come with a microSD card slot, so its storage is not expandable. The 16GB version comes in at £40 more than the 8GB version, which costs £159.

Those opting for the cheaper version would be expected to make more use of Google's cloud-based storage, although that only works when the Nexus 7 is connected to the internet. As the device is Wi-Fi only, continuous connectivity on the move would require it being tethered to a device that has a mobile broadband connection, probably a smartphone.

According to a report in The Guardian, Google had deliberately stocked more of the 8GB version on its Play store, in the expectation that those buying it through that channel would be more likely to buy into the cloud concept.